2013/11/17

"When the U.S. gained independence, it sought to join the international community of the day. That is why the Declaration of Independence opens by expressing concern for the "decent respect to the opinions of mankind."

A crucial element was evolution from a disorderly confederacy to a unified "treaty-worthy nation," in diplomatic historian Eliga H. Gould's phrase, that observed the conventions of the European order. By achieving this status, the new nation also gained the right to act as it wished internally.

It could thus proceed to rid itself of the indigenous population and to expand slavery, an institution so "odious" that it could not be tolerated in England, as the distinguished jurist William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, ruled in 1772. Evolving English law was a factor impelling the slave-owning society to escape its reach.

Becoming a treaty-worthy nation thus conferred multiple advantages: foreign recognition, and the freedom to act at home without interference. Hegemonic power offers the opportunity to become a rogue state, freely defying international law and norms, while facing increased resistance abroad and contributing to its own decline through self-inflicted wounds."

I would like then to add :

Becoming a rogue state, a treaty-unworthy nation thus conferred multiple disadvantages: blunt foreign recognition, erosion of influence and soft power, diplomacy side-lined in the rapidly evolving international system, and at the extreme point: the freedom for a failed state to act at home without interference is challenged. Hegemonic power seems to offer the opportunity to freely defy international law and norms. In fact, a rogue state is always recognized for what it is, and is facing ever increasing resistance both at home and abroad.
I wrote about this conception in The inevitable counter-revolution of the American people.

[Thanks to Ipernity.com for the article about W.T. Stead's book (The Americanization of the world; or, The trend of the twentieth century) published in 1902 and freely available.]